Obsidian Pebble Read Online Free

falcon as its centrepiece. In other words, it just wouldn’t be Penwurt. He held on to that pleasant thought as he made his way back to the dorm.
    * * *
    He decided to set his watch alarm for half past three as he climbed up the staircase, so he put the Coke bottle down to adjust the settings. There was no sound at all in the atrium as midnight approached, but outside the wind moaned as it gusted around the stone walls and beams creaked as the old place resisted the elements. Oz finished adjusting his watch and reached down to pick up the bottle when a noise made him start.
    Footsteps.
    Oz looked up suddenly. Maybe Ellie wanted something else from the kitchen. More likely it would be Ruff. But there was no one there.
    He started to climb the stairs again. Must have been his imag… Oz stopped and stood stock-still.
    Soft and deliberate and sounding very near, the footsteps came again.
    The hairs on Oz’s arms stood instantly to attention. He swivelled around. The atrium was empty. Except for the faint moaning of the wind, the only other noises he could hear were the hammers of his heart pounding out a drum roll.
    Then they came once more. This time they were distinctly louder.
    Oz tilted his head to try and pinpoint exactly where they were coming from. Not above. Not below. Oz realised he was standing on the step below the first floor landing. Whatever was making that noise was behind the wall separating him from the rooms beyond. Someone or something was walking across the floor in one of those rooms, rooms that had been locked up for years. He craned his neck to listen. The noise had died. He took another step forward just as something tapped on the wall right next to where he was standing.
    Oz jumped and almost dropped the Coke bottle. His pulse took off like an Atlas rocket and he had to stuff his fist in his mouth to stop from crying out. He leapt up the remaining stairs and through the oak door into the dorm. The shock must have shown in his face because Ruff frowned the minute he entered.
    â€œWhat’s wrong with you?” he asked.
    Oz put his quivering fingers to his lips and tiptoed across to where Ellie and Ruff were sitting with the Xbox switched on.
    â€œWhat is it?” Ellie asked.
    â€œTurn that off and listen,” Oz commanded in a whisper.
    â€œO-oz,” Ellie said with an accusatory stare.
    â€œShhh. This is not a wind-up, honestly,” Oz whispered again. “Just wait.”
    They did. For a very long thirty seconds until…thud… thud…thud…thud.
    Ruff’s eyes became instant dinner plates. “What the buzzard…?” he whispered.
    â€œSugar! Are they…?” Ellie asked.
    â€œFootsteps? Yes, they are,” Oz said.
    â€œWhose?” breathed Ellie.
    â€œDunno, but they’re coming from downstairs. From rooms that have been locked up for as long as we’ve been here.”
    Oz, Ellie and Ruff stared at each other in speechless wonder. It was Ellie who broke the stalemate.
    â€œSounds like Hidden Haunted Houses of Great Britain got it right, then,” she said in a whisper edgy with excitement.
    Ruff shook his head but he, too, kept his voice low. “There’s probably a perfectly normal explanation.”
    â€œIs there?” Oz asked. “Like I said, as far as I know those rooms have been boarded up for years.”
    â€œMaybe it’s your mum playing a trick on us,” Ruff said waveringly.
    â€œMum? You heard her. She was more nervous than anyone about us coming here. She’s on emergency standby to come and rescue us, remember? No way is that my mother.”
    â€œThen who is it?” Ellie asked.
    â€œOr what is it?” Ruff mumbled.
    Ellie shook her head and rolled her eyes.
    â€œWell, there’s only one way to find out, isn’t there?” Oz said finally.
    â€œYou’re not going to go looking?” Ruff asked, horrified.
    But Ellie’s face lit up at the suggestion